The last time Chris Stephenson talked about the Zune, we got a couple of possible new Zune features Microsoft was working on.
First, he emphasizes Microsoft's plan to create a flash-based Zune in order to compete with Apple's best selling player, the Nano. MS wants to sell a "lower-cost product" in order to "quickly boost its user base", which is a good idea.
Chris also talks about expanding Wi-Fi features to enable downloading tracks in public (he said this last time) and syncing wirelessly with your PCs. Still nothing about a Zune phone, however.
But there he does confirm that within a month, there'll be real news to share.– Jason Chen
New Zune Player Will Face Tough Market [Yahoo via Zunerama]

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

While we've been seeing methanol fuel cells pop up in all kinds of concept devices for a while now, there have been precious few actual shipping products that get their juice on with a fuel cell. That might be slowly changing, as a research team at the National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan has come up with a novel filtration system that increases the efficiency of methanol cells to potentially usable levels. The system, which is 10 times more efficient than conventional waste pumps, features a series of 100 50-micron holes that allow waste CO2 to escape out of the cell, while excess water is pulled off by a hydrophilic Teflon ramp (boy do we love those hydrophilic Teflon ramps!) that drives H20 molecules away from the methanol and into a collector. Since this method doesn't require any power to work, it's well-suited to cell phones and laptops, as the cells can be made smaller and quieter. While this doesn't mean we'll be seeing fuel cell Zunes ...

A few days ago, we reported Apple's stellar quarterly earnings, not because we're going all Wall Street, but because we heart Apple. (Like you didn't know.) One brave reader named Jim called us on the bias, saying that Microsoft did amazingly well in its most recent quarter, and deserves a bit o' Gizmodo love.
"Why aren't you reporting Microsoft's successful quarter?" wrote Jim. "Hey, maybe you have it wrong, and Vista is a huge success...and it can only get better with worldwide sales."
Well, Jim, wherever you are, when you're right, you're right. Microsoft did have an impressive quarter, but there was also some grimness tucked in with those upwardly moving graph lines.
First the good news: Microsoft did make a bitchload of profit this past quarter, $4.93 billion up from $2.98 billion a year earlier. It's almost entirely attributed to Vista and Office 2007. The other Steve (Ballmer) did some expectation management back in February, saying people were overe...

Several folks have commented, noting my lack of postings. Others have posted asking me for a view of a "day in the life" of zune right now, and pictures of my workspace. The answers to these are all related.... We're insanely busy right now. Lots of key decisions being made as we speak. Plus, I've inherited a "team" on Zune that didn't have anyone on it so I've been simultaniously doing what I

Last night, as esteemed members of the TV industry and press went to preview the Adult Swim season ahead, they got a treat. Instead of watching the new content in some stuffy theater by projector, they got to take home limited edition Adult Swim Zunes preloaded with shows. That there Zune you see is one of 500 or so, and it won't be available to the public, save the inevitable ebay action. – Brian Lam

““Never say never, but customers don’t seem to be interested in it,” Jobs told Reuters in an interview after Apple reported blow-out quarterly results. “The subscription model has failed so far.” One big thing between iTune and Zune MarketPlace is the subscription service. Paying $14.99 a month for all you want music sounds pretty good to [...]

Yes, it's another round of iPhone Non-News, carefully collected from around the Web to keep you up to date with all the stuff that's happening with the Apple wonder that you should know about.

Or maybe you shouldn't. Actually I would say that some of the stuff is barely happening at all. In fact, nobody was that careful collecting these either. But you know what? Who cares! It's Friday and this Martini glass right here contains three parts of tequila, two of triple-sec and one of lime juice, plus a salted rim. Today my friends, it's Margaritas, sunshine and partying with my pals at Larry's yacht all day long for me... and iPhone Non-News after the jump for you.
Don't feel bad about not being invited, though. You see, many other people aren't coming to this mighty ship. Like that Fred Anderson traitor (Note to Diane: call Fred, maybe he should come and we'll play "Walk the plank" with him when we reach international waters.)
There are oth...

IpodMods has been to #1 place to go if you were looking to upgrade your Zunes harddrive (and void your warranty) to a bigger 40,60, 80 or more recently 100gig size. Due the the popularity of this service the company has now changed its name to cater for both iPods and Zunes. IpodMods are now [...]

There were rumors of the factory to build the second gen Zune was being built next to the Xbox factory which is in Doumen, China. Well well well whats this then next to the Xbox factory? Maybe there was some truth behind these rumors, judging by that Google Earth picture there does appear to be a [...]

Filed under: Portable Audio, Portable Video

For all those Venture Brothers, Aqua Teen, Sea Lab, Harvey Birdman, and Robot Chicken nerds whose hearts just skipped a beat, steel yourself. While Microsoft is indeed producing a limited edition Adult Swim version of the Zune, when we say it's limited edition, we mean it: only 500 are being made, and will be given away at a Turner promotional event tonight. Obviously these units will have pre-loaded content, including photos, music, and, naturally, such classic shows as Assy McGee, Metalocalypse (rawk), and even a new program titled Lucy, Daughter of the Devil (on screen). Now if only we could get Microsoft to continue making Zunes with new colors and etchings, surely that will distract us all from the fact that they haven't actually done anything to improve the platform since launch (or launched any new devices, for that matter). 
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